Method of and mechanism for widening a knitted fabric between two successive knitting operations



y 1952 J. H. STRAUSSBERGER 2,597,761

7 METHOD OF AND MECHANISM FOR WIDENING A KNITTED FABRIC BETWEEN TWO SUCCESSIVE KNITTING OPERATIONS Original Filed Oct. 25, 1944 I 6} I i J 122 o o o o J31 62 50 133 o 0 3 L 3 I J1 HIS HTTORIUEV Patented May 20, 1952 METHOD OF AND MECHANISM FOR WIDEN- ING A KNITTED FABRIC BETWEEN TWO SUCCESSIVE KNITTING OPERATIONS John H. Straussberger, deceased, late of Chattanooga,

executor, Chattanooga, Tenn.,

Tenn, by Hamilton National Bank,

assignor, by

direct and mesne assignments, to Julius Kayser & 00., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application October 25, 1944, Serial No. 560,220. Divided and this application May 12, 1950, Serial No. 161,546

2 Claims. 1

This application is a division of an application for Letters Patent filed by John H. Straussberger, October 25, 1944, Serial No. 560,220, now Letters Patent No. 2,507,533, dated May 16, 1951, and is designed to cover the invention described therein consisting of a method of, and mechanism for, widening a knitted fabric between two successive knitting operations and while needle loops of a single course are carried by a series of needles.

Such method comprises successively delivering the loops from a plurality of adjacent needles outwardly onto other needles a plurality of times, omitting from each such delivery, after the first delivery, the innermost loop delivered outwardly in the preceding delivery.

Ordinarily this will be accomplished by outwardly delivering by two needles and the omission of one loop during each delivery so that every alternate needle over the widened portion carries a loop, though of course, if desired, the same method could be applied by outward delivery of loops by more than two needles, so that there would be more than one empty needle between a pair of loop-carrying needles and more than one loop could be omitted in successive deliveries should this be desired. When straight knitting is again resumed the yarn carrier lays yarn at all the needles throughout the increased width so that each needle then carries a loop.

The mechanism for carryin out such method comprises knitting mechanism including a plurality of needles arranged side by side and parts cooperating with said needles to make a succession of knitted courses, a reciprocable yarn carrier, a stop for limiting the stroke of said yarn carrier at each end in accordance with the width of the fabric being knit, a screw threaded through each stop for adjusting the position of said stop by rotation of said screw, widening mechanism comprising a threaded spindle, a nut threaded on said spindle, widening points operatively connected to said nut, means for raising and lowering said points with respect to said needles,

means actuable to render said'knitting mechaa nism inoperative to knit and said widening mechanism operative, said widening mechanism including ratchet devices carried by said screw and spindle and means for actuating said devices in accordance with a predetermined cycle, said cycle consisting in causin said points to take loops from each needle inwardly, from the fabric margin to a predetermined depth, to deliver all of said loops outwardly by one needle and to move said stop outwardly by two needles, and then to move said points outwardly by one needle while free from needle loops and while said stop is stationary, and repeating such cycle until each alternate needle outwardly from said predetermined depth carries one needle loop.

For a complete understanding of this invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a flat knitting machine arranged to widen in accordance with this invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of the parts shown in Figure l and Figure 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8 are diagrammatic views showin successive steps in Widening operations each of a single loop delivery and in a single course.

Referring first to Figures 1, 2, and 3, a portion of a flat knitting machine is illustrated, including the supporting frame members 1 within which is journaled the usual cam shaft 2, This cam shaft, as shown, has journaled thereon a beveled pinion 3 which is in mesh with a beveled gear 4 on a transverse shaft 5. This transverse shaft 5 is arranged to drive the usual Coulier motion which causes the parts to cooperate with the needles to perform the knitting cycles in the well known manner. The needles H] are carried by the usual needle bar II, which is given an up and down motion by a cam l2 on the shaft 2 through a cam follower 13 carried by an arm l4 fixed to a rock shaft 5, a rocker I6 pivoted to a link ll supporting the needle bar, completing this operative connection. The usual forward and back motions of the needle bar are derived from any suitable mechanism as is well known in the art and a portion of which is shown in Figure 2. The sinkers and dividers are moved backwardly and forwardly by a cam 25 on the shaft 2, acting upon a follower 26 carried by an arm 21 secured to a rock shaft 28. This rock shaft 28 is connected to the catch bar 29 through on line 2--2 the pivoted links 30 and 35. A pair of curved' gaging on a cam 49 on the shaft 2 serves to swing the forward end of the arms upwardly or downwardly, causing the combs 5c, one fixed to the bar 42 and the other to the bar 43, to be lifted into inoperative position or lowered into position for their points I59 to take loops of thread on or off the needles for the widthchanging operations. The width-changing rods 42 and 43 have stops 54 and 55, respectively, which are pressed into engagement with the adjacent faces of the nuts 56 and 57,. respectively, threaded on reverse direction threaded portions 53 and 59 of a spindle 60 journaled in bearings SI and 62. The nuts are held against rotation with the spindle 68 by extensions 63 thereon slidably guided on a guide rod -64 extending between the bearings IiI and 62. The bearings GI and 02 also have rearward extensions 65 within which is mounted a guide bar 66. On this guide bar is slidably guided a rearward extension 61 of a carrier rod nut 78 threaded onto a screw II. A carrier rod '12, suitably guided for axial motion, has a stop I3 arranged to engage the inner face of the carrier nut 0. The carrier rod I2 has secured thereto the yarn carrier I i which is reciprocated to lay the yarn for successive courses by reciprocation of a friction box rod I5 to which issecured a friction box IE through which the carrier rod 72 passes and by which it is frictionally gripped.

As is well known in the art, the friction rod is moved laterally in a path of constant amplitude, but the amplitude of reciprocation of the yarn carrier rod 12 is limited by the setting of the nut I0 at one end of its travel and by a corresponding nut (not shown) traveling on a screw II like that shown in Figure 3, but facing in the opposite direction. Thus the two stop nuts are moved from and toward each other by equal amounts at each actuation of either, this determining the length of the path of motion of the yarn carrier in accordance with the width of the goods being knitted at any one time.

The transfer of needle loops to effect the width changing operation is accomplished by the turning of the shaft 60 in timed relation with the relative lowering and lifting of the needles I0 and the points I in predetermined cycles, some of the many possible cycles being hereinafter described. According to the present invention a plurality of such cycles are performed in a single At some convenient time or times during the numberof loop transferring cycles performed in a single course to produce the desired extent of width change, the screw H is manipulated to change the limits of motion of the yarn carrier, in accordance with the changed width, for the subsequent knitting cycles. When this invention is applied to or performed by machines of well known types, it will he usually convenient to adjust the screw 60 simultaneously with certain of the turning impulses imparted to the shaft II as will hereinafter appear.

It will also be understood that a knitting course or courses may be interposed between series of width changing cycles wherever desired in order to shape the fabric as may be desired.

During the width-changing operations, the threaded spindle 60 and the screw II are rotated step by step in the proper direction for the particular width-changing desired for widening, and this action takes place when the cam shaft 2 is in its axial position in which the clutch connection between it and the pinion 3 is opened so that the Coulier motion is inoperative.

For the present invention, however, instead of the Coulier motion being inoperative during only one widening cycle, it is held out of operation during a plurality of such cycles.

The mechanism commonly employed for throwing out the Coulier motion consists of a chain motion shown diagrammatically in Figure 1 at 90. An endless chain 9| carries a plurality of dogs, such as 92, which as the chain is driven through its endless path, act while in certain definite positions to interpose a cam follower 93 between a pair of cams 94 and 95 on the shaft 2 so formed as to produce the desired axial motion of the cam shaft 2 to move it out of its normal knitting axial position into its width-changing position. In previous constructions each dog 92 is short, being long enough only to hold the shaft 2 in width-changing condition during a single widthchanging cycle during a single rotation of the shaft 2. In accordance with the present invention a longer dog 92 is employed, its length being sufiicient to hold the Coulier motion idle and the machine in width-changing condition during the desired plurality of width-changing cycles.

The turning of the screw shafts 60 and II is accomplished by ratchet mechanism, but for the present invention the ratchet mechanism, as herein shown, is somewhat modified from that commonly employed, and is shown particularly in Figure 4 for a multiple widening operation.

Assuming that the shaft 2 is in width-changing position, a double lobed cam I00 carried thereby is in position to impinge upon a cam roller IOI carried by an arm I02 fulcrumed at The screw shaft "II has fixed thereon a peripherally notched wheel I20 and a ratchet wheel I2I and between them is journaled a second ratchet wheel I22. The journaled ratchet I22 has high and low step portions I24 and I25 around its periphery.

The notched wheel I 20 has a spring pressed detent I 30 cooperating therewith and engaging in its notches to prevent reverse rotation of the screw shaft by up motion of the pawl IIOa.

The screw shaft 60 has a similar notched disk I 3Ia with its cooperating spring pressed detent I32, and it also carries a ratchet wheel I33a with which the pawl IIOa cooperates. On each downward motion of the link I02, the screw I50 is mtated by the amount of one ratchet tooth, while, only each alternate downward motion of the link I02 produces rotation of the screw II.

The carrier stop is moved outwardly by two needles at each actuation and actuated at each alternate loop delivery.

The pawl M911 is moved twice the distance of the pawl IIOa which actuates the ratchet wheel I33a, and for this purpose it is connected to the cam follower arm I02 through a link I56 at a distance from the fulcrum I03 twice that of the connection of the link I5! which connects the arm I02 with the pawl I I0a.

In Figures 5 to 8 is shown diagrammatically a widening operation by one needle steps. The combs are originally positioned inwardly from the edge of the fabric by the number of needles which it is desired to widen, as shown in Figure 5, in which the points I50 are shown positioned above the respective needles a to 1. They then descend and take single loops of thread from each of these needles and deliver each of them outwardly by one needle, leaving one needle 1 5. empty as shown in Figure 6, and the yarn carrier stop remains in its first position.

Next the points are moved out idly by one more needle into the position shown in Figure 7 above needle d and outwardly thereof while the yarn carrier stop remains in its former position.

The points then descend and pick up needle loops from needles a to d, inclusive, and deliver each of them outwardly by one needle which leaves another needle (1 empty spaced from the first empty needle 3 by the loop carrying needle while the carrier stop is moved outwardly by two needles, as shown in Figure 8. This action continues until the last loop to be taken by a point has been transferred, and the thread carrier has been moved outwardly to its desired limit, each alternate needle outwardly from the widening point being empty.

This method thus consists in the successive delivery a plurality of times of loops from a plurality of adjacent needles outwardly onto other needles, omitting from each such delivery the innermost loop delivered outwardly in the preceding delivery.

From the foregoing description of certain embodiments of this invention and the methods carried out in accordance therewith, it should be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications might be made Without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

l. The method of widening a knitted fabric between two successive knitting operations and while needle loops of a single course are carried by a series of needles, which comprises successively delivering the loops from a plurality of adjacent needles outwardly onto other needles a plurality of times in the same course, omitting from each such delivery after the first delivery the innermost loop delivered outwardly in the preceding delivery to form a series of loops in such course having a greater center-to-center spacing than the loops of the preceding course.

2. A fiat knitting machine, comprising knitting mechanism including a plurality of needles 6 arranged side by side and parts cooperating with said needles to make a succession of knitted courses, a reciprocable yarn carrier, a stop for limiting the stroke of said yarn carrier at each end in accordance with the width of the fabric being knit, a screw threaded through each stop for adjusting the position of said stop by rotation of said screw, widening mechanism comprising a threaded spindle, a nut threaded on said spindle, widening points operatively connected to said nut, means for raising and lowering said points with respect to said needles, means actuable to render said knitting mechanism inoperative to knit and said widening mechanism operative, said widening mechanism including ratchet devices carried by said screw and spindle and means for actuating said devices in accordance with a predetermined cycle, said cycle consisting in causing said points to take loops from each needle inwardly, from the fabric margin to a predetermined depth, to deliver all of said loops outwardly by one needle and to move said stop outwardly by two needles, and then to move said points outwardly by one needle while free from needle loops and while said stop is stationary, and repeating such cycle until each alternate needle outwardly from said predetermined depth carries one needle loop.

HAMILTON NATIONAL BANK, By C. H. JERDEN,

Vice President and Trust Ofl cer, Executor of the Last Will and Testament of John H. Straussberger.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany Mar. 12, 1903 

